DUNDEE United boss Jackie McNamara has told his youngsters they have no reason to feel ashamed about their four-goal humbling by St Mirren.

The Tannadice side saw a six-game run of successive victories come to a shuddering halt when the Buddies clocked up a shock 4-1 win.

But McNamara believes the scoreline was not a true reflection of the game.

After the match in Paisley, the Arabs manager argued Saints skipper Jim Goodwin should have earned a second yellow for a string of physical challenges before Buddies boss Danny Lennon was able to substitute him for his own protection.

And he also hailed the performance of home stopper Marion Kello, who pulled off four important stops to deny United.

McNamara also insists teenagers like Ryan Gauld, Andrew Robertson and John Souttar will not pay the price for that heavy defeat when he names the side to face St Johnstone in Perth on Sunday.

"They are here to entertain the Dundee United fans, to try and play. We ask them to do certain things and take responsibility on the ball and to be positive," he said. "When it doesn't work then I will take responsibility for that.

"For me there will be no difference between how we prepare for Sunday's match and how we did for the St Mirren match.

"Okay it didn't go our way against Saints but we will look towards Sunday now and try to bounce back.

"I've told the boys there is nothing to be down about. With football, sometimes you don't get what you deserve. Everyone will look at the 4-1 scoreline but I have looked at everything in the game and I thought it was a game we could have won easily enough."

Goodwin was substituted by Saints two minutes before the break with Lennon fearing referee Bobby Madden's patience was running thin.

But United felt the Irishman should have been dismissed earlier and even took the unusual step of posting footage showing Goodwin catching Stuart Armstrong with a forearm smash on their YouTube page to back up their point.

However, McNamara is not worried that teams will seek to target his talented youngsters with heavy handed challenges.

He said: "They are young lads but they have experienced all that sort of stuff when they were playing for boys clubs, the rough treatment and tough tackles. It's part and parcel of football."

While Goodwin was replaced before he was sent off, it was United who finished with 10 men as right-back Keith Watson was shown a straight red for his crude tackle on Paisley teenager Sean Kelly.

He will now miss Sunday's Tayside derby but McNamara says he is likely to make further alterations.

"We will need to make a few changes," said the Terrors boss as he confirmed winger Gary Mackay-Steven is struggling with a shin injury following St Mirren defender Marc McAusland's heavy challenge on Thursday.

"We took a few heavy knocks and some of the players are carrying a few war wounds.

"But it was always in my mind to freshen things up for the St Johnstone game."